On paper the Pens are ten times better. Right? Whatever. Tired of hearing that garbage. They don't play these games on paper.

The point..

I love Bylsma hockey. Who doesn't. It is exciting. It is in your face. It is non stop no matter how big a lead. Lets get more. Exciting indeed. No excuses here. We are gonna come at you with all we got all the time. More times than not we will get ya.

Ok now the bad. Bylsma hockey is exciting but it is the most physically demanding system. He wants to go 100 mph all the time. They play the same way all the time. I don't know if he is too arrogant to implement a trap after getting a nice lead or what but check this out...the players can't score on every shot and they get exhausted from this go go go system. If the other team has hung around and kept the game within reach, often times they come back and win.

Speaking of Stanley Cup...how have the Pens fared in the playoffs since the Cup? Post Cup...2nd rd exit year one. 1st rd exit year 2. 1st rd exit year 3. See a continuing theme here. Why is this you might wonder. Since this is a professional sports league teams love to copy cat. The Cup year Bylsma gets a team about 8 weeks before the playoffs start in the tenth standing. The players respond to his fun system. He is a likable coach. They are bounding with energy. The big key though is the league hasn't seen an attack like this in many many years. They aren't really prepared to play against such an up tempo for 60 mins because they don't ever see that. So he has success and wins the Cup. Fantastic. Since then his playoff runs have been short. I know there have been injuries but we are in the fourth playoff run post Cup and things are not looking so good. Or they are looking more of the same old ugly situation. Paper paper paper we should blow them out. Right? Sounds familiar too.

Bylsma makes adjustments at a zero level. The pens live and die by the 100 mph hockey. Never do they change things up. You know regardless of the score and the opponent how the Pens are going to play. Well if we know, you bet your ass the opposition knows too.

This matchup could not be any worse for the pens. It is square peg in a round hole. The Isle love Bylsma hockey. They love it because they will play Bylsma hockey and guess what...they are faster at it than the Pens are. Bylsma hockey is about speed. You can't play his system if you are slow. Well as you all have seen the Isle are the fastest team in the NHL.

If they can get out of this round there could be big things for this team because I don't see another team that could give them problems to this magnitude like the Isle are because of that speed meshing with Bylsma hockey.

He does need to check his pride at the door though and adjust his system from time to time. This is the only way I see the Pens surviving this series. if they keep going as is I have zero confidence in them winning this series.

These next two-three games IMO will also decide the future for Bylsma coaching the Penguins. Shero/Lemieux did not go all in this year to be bounced in the first round...AGAIN!

This was perfectly said, and I could not agree more... OTHER than, I do believe the Isles are one of a handful of teams who recognize his arrogance to the system, and could alter their game to combat it. Well done.

It's not Bylsma's fault that the players fail to execute. However, it does show that he does not have control, and that the players have either tuned him out, or they don't respect him. Therrien was tuned out by the end, but there's no question that they respected him. The country club is back in service!

Yeah, DB needs this series or he's gone. No excuse here. I understand the Fleury hate now. I'm pissed he's giving up these aweful goals as well, but even a goaltender change doesn't solve the dominating zone time by the Isles, the seemingly overwhelming speed, the high quality scoring oppotunities, or the dumb penalties, the dumb turnovers, and the terrible breakout.

We have so many issues right now, it's almost inconcievable that this is the same team that we saw playing a few weeks ago.

You win as a team and lose as a team, coaches included. You can't fire the whole team though. I've said it a couple times this year: If Pens don't make the ECF, I've got no issue with going in a new coaching direction.

"We're going to impose our will on our opponent and force them to play our style regardless of the situation, the score, or who is on the ice."

Winning a championship, as the great Mike Lange has often said, is about being able to adjust to any team's style and beat them at their game. Bylsma's "get to our game" approach is arrogant, short-sighted, not practical, and in many people's opinions had run its course last spring. And yet, here the Pens are again, zero adjustments later, with a roster full of all stars and potential hall of famers, getting keelhauled by a bunch of jobbers with zero playoff experience.

Bylsma has made some adjustments this series, just none big enough to have any impact. The man is just too much of a player friendly coach. And we are now seeing the drawbacks of having a coach like this. He's not the only one to blame here, but there is no way anyone can justly defend this guy right now.

I don't care what the system is in the playoffs or the regular season. This team continues to fall apart when the first round of the playoffs rolls around. Bylsma should be losing his job regardless of what happens the rest of the way. This team is lucky not to be down 1-3 right now. Very lucky.

Does winning the series even matter at this point? Are we going to magically regain our composure, confidence and dominance once we've beaten the mighty Islanders? How can a team with so much leadership look so utterly lost?

Gaucho wrote:Does winning the series even matter at this point? Are we going to magically regain our composure, confidence and dominance once we've beaten the mighty Islanders? How can a team with so much leadership look so utterly lost?

Great question. I'd go as far to say of we get blown out in game 5 Bylsma should be fired at that point and see if Granato can dig us out in 6 and 7.

Gaucho wrote:Does winning the series even matter at this point? Are we going to magically regain our composure, confidence and dominance once we've beaten the mighty Islanders? How can a team with so much leadership look so utterly lost?

thats a great point. Everyone says, we get past them we go far. What in the last 3 games have they shown us leads to them going far? It's utterly mind boggling that this team can play like that for 3 games and after each game say the same thing. Sure the series is tied 2-2 and theres a lot of hockey to be played, but nobody can say they feel confident that the pens take this. Paper, ranks, stats... doesn't matter. The Islanders are the better team right now and have been for the last 3 games and that's very concerning to me.

After 3 years of playoff disapointment what else is there to blame but "Bylsma Hockey" We win games in the regular season but come playoffs we get out played. The regular season you really can't prepare for all your oppeents you just play your style, in the playoffs a 7 game series you can prepare find weaknesses and adjust to their style. Failure to adjust... Yeah all these coaches put together game plans to stop "Bylsma Hockey" but we continue to put play the same way. Playing into the hands of our oppenents.

Last edited by no name on Wed May 08, 2013 8:28 am, edited 1 time in total.

Reminds me of the Sens series we barely won in 2010 where the defensive lapses were there and then finally fully exposed by the Habs. I still don't understand how a team that rattles off no losses in an entire month while playing the best defensive hockey I have ever seen give up 14 goals in 3 games to ANYONE.

^^^I completely agree. Resigning Malkin should NOT be a sure thing at this point. Especially so for Letang, MAF, etc.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I'm not paying $10 million/year long-term for someone as enigmatic as Malkin. He's a great player when he's on, but my God is he absolutely terrible when he isn't.